Accidentaly posted this as a chapter for the Ghost, whoops. Sorry for the wait, this chapter was such pain to write, but thanks to MSquared79, it was made amazing! Hope you enjoy
Edric
The days that followed the morning of unexpected arrivals were a busy ones. Though word was already spreading of the attack on Starfall, there were many from Dorne demanding to know what other destruction has befallen their country, and all of them were on the edge of a rage that could level mountains.
Edric had his household servants settle in the castle with his men, save for Ser Raymen, who joined with the Dornish forces in the camps. Unfortunately, three of those that arrived in the night had gotten sick on the road and died before sunrise. And the children, they had been so worn out from the hard riding that they slept for an entire day before they were up an about and ate just about as much food as Wyman Manderly did at the feast. The Queen was gracious enough to spare one of the ironwood cribs for Arthur. He had been such a fuss without his mother around and he hardly ever ate from his appointed wet nurse. Ashara was a blessed soul and always stayed with Gerold. She wanted to keep her brother safe from the bad people that took away their mother.
To Edric's personal shame, he rarely had anytime for his own children since he was busy trying to keep the other Dornish lords under control, many of them demanded that the Lannister forces should be butchered and wiped out for their Queen's treachery. But even with Edric reminding them that it was mercenaries that attacked, not them, there was still displeasure among many of them. And thanks to Varys the Spider, Edric learned of whispers that some of the Dornish Lords were considering following someone who would take action of vengeance and were attempting to rally others to join them.
Things were growing out of control, so much that Edric was losing his grip over it. There were so few who could give their support, and all of them were from Edric's household. The King had more on his plate than Edric did, and there weren't many outside of Edric's rule that he trusted. Ser Raymen was his most trusted out of all, a knight and advisor to Edric's father before him, but even Edric had his suspicions that there could be Lannister loyalists among the armies and had him keep watch over his children.
Outside his household, Edric had a great deal of trust in the Starks and the Targaryens, and Lady Sansa was gracious enough to help him deal with the anger that the Dornish were feeling. The two of them had taken to the Great Hall of Winterfell to meet with three of the more powerful Dornish rulers: Valian Uller, newly appointed Lady of House Uller after her grandfather, Harmen, and father, Rohar, perished at the Wall; Lord Dagos of House Manwoody, and Jynessa of House Blackmont.
"My ladies, my lord," Edric spoke, "please calm down."
"Calm?" Lady Jynessa scoffed, "It amazes me that you would be so passive after the Lannisters destroy your ancestral home."
"Lannister," Edric corrected, "only one is against us and those sworn to the name are all here, with the other armies, and had nothing to do with the attack."
"That's beside the point!" Lord Dagos exclaimed. "We knew those sellsword bastards where at Hellgate before they moved to attack. Our homes lie in the path to Starfall, who's to say that they weren't attacked and our people slaughtered!?"
Sansa spoke up. "My lord, the raven from Lord Varys's spies will be arriving anytime now. We cannot know for sure that what you say can be true."
"And if our suspicions are corrected? If Dorne is nothing more than a blood soaked desert of burning castles?"
"What would you have me do?" Edric demanded. "We're thousands of miles away from the ones that attacked our country and have only what you speak of, suspicions."
Lady Valian said. "Regardless if our lands have been attacked or not, we must avenge the destruction of Starfall. We should send that Lannister bitch tenfold the dead you suffered and more if she continues to be a thorn in our sides."
The Dornish were acting on blind vengeance, not caring for reason or honor. Though Edric knew that to them, it wasn't vengeance for his people, it was for their pride as the people of Dorne. They saw themselves higher than most, and something like this was humiliating for them.
"You would slaughter men innocent of murder others did?"
"My ladies, my lord," Sansa said, "my brother put to the sword Rickard Karstark. His sons were killed by Ser Jaime and Lord Karstark killed his cousins Willem and Martyn Lannister to repay the debt. Against honor, against orders, and my brother executed him for his crimes."
Lady Jynessa had a ghost of smirk at the corners of her lips. "And how well did that work out for your brother, the King in the North? He lost half his army and lost the war all because he couldn't keep his desires in his pants."
Sansa managed to keep herself calm, but Edric clenched his fists on the table. "You dare insult the family that houses us in their own halls!?"
Sansa lightly place her hand over Edric's fist but kept her gaze at Lady Jynessa. "The men of the Westerlands are under the protection of House Stark and will remain that way. If you take any action against them, then you will be charged with treason and met with the vengeance that you demand, tenfold what you deliver."
"They serve Cersei!"
"They are bound to Ser Jaime," Sansa reminded, "and he has pledged his sword and allegiance to House Targaryen." Though there were some like Lady Brienne, Lord Tyrion, and even the King who had their trust in Ser Jaime's word, Edric did not completely. But he trusted the King's decision and would defend it.
Lady Valian look more angry than anyone at the mention of Ser Jaime. "You would put trust in an Oathbreaker, in the man who murdered Elliara Sand?"
"He didn't murder Elliara, Valian." Edric said with a firm tone. "She was tortured inhumanely and Ser Jaime gave her mercy. If anything, you are in debt to him for such."
"Ha, that'll be a debt the Lannisters never get payed."
"As far as I have seen, the 'Oathbreaker' has been keeping true to his word of loyalty more than you and the other Dornish have in one morning. The 'Oathbreaker' has done more for us in the past year than Dorne has done for anyone in the past decade. He attempted to take his sister's life before he was forced to flee and pledged fealty to the King and Queen. By right of oath and honor, his men are bound to him now and they are bound to House Targaryen." There was a pregnant silence between everyone for Sansa's words to sink in. "Need I remind you all, as lord Edric has said, that we are thousands of miles away from the ones who committed the atrocities we discuss. If Cersei learns of what we do to her army here based on blind accusations against the innocent, what's to stop her from making your suspicions the truth?"
Sansa had an excellent point. The things they were all discussing were in fact based on suspicions. If they took action before they knew the truth, the consequences would be worse than what they could be.
Lord Dagos sat back in his chair and looked at Edric. "Then what would you have us do? Nothing, like Prince Doran?"
Edric was started to get tired of having to answer everyone's questions. He had his own, but he wasn't sure who was the right person to ask for the answers. His wife was in King's Landing, probably stuck in a Black Cell beneath the Red Keep. At least, that was the best he could hope for that felt reasonable. If someone had the Mad Queen in check, then Edric might feel a little relieved. But the only people who had any true influence over Cersei were dead. Whatever trusts or connections Cersei had with Lord Jaime were probably severed when he tried to kill her before he fled.
"We'll finish this tonight. And should I hear of any attacks on the crown's army, I will make it an obligation to take the head of whoever gave the order myself. And as we are in the North, I shall be the one to do it. As they say here, the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."
Edric stood up with Sansa and waited for the Dornish to leave the Great hall. Once they were gone, he turned to face her. "I'm sorry you had to hear such an insult like that."
Sansa finally started to show signs of contained rage. "Believe me, if I can have a good excuse, I'll have her torn to pieces by the wolves." The way she spoke showed no hint of exaggeration or sarcasm. She meant what she said.
This was the first Edric had ever seen of Sansa that intimidated him of her. For a brief moment, he didn't see her as a Stark, but someone that reminded him of Cersei. "As much as I can sympathise with your anger, I would not let that happen. If Lady Jynessa gives me reason to, I'll see to she dies, but not mutilated."
Sansa shook her head. "Forgive me, you're right. That was rash to say. Gods, I feel like I'm turning into Cersei."
"After what I've seen and know about her, you're one of the furthest people from her. And rest assured, I won't let Jynessa's dishonor to your brother's memory go unpunished."
Edric turned his head when he heard footsteps approaching them and saw one of the Kingsguard, Ser Lorimuss Mudd. "My lord, my lady, the King and Queen request your audience."
Instead of going to the King and Queen's room, Edric and Sansa were brought to the Lord's Chambers. Ser Lorimuss joined one of the Queen's Dothraki and stood guard at the door. The knight opened it for them and they walked in to find the Queen sitting at the desk in the room with King standing behind her. Lord Tyrion and Varys sat in chairs across from the desk next to a vacant ones meant for Edric and Sansa. Lying down on the stone floor near the hearth was the King's direwolf, Ghost.
"Lord Edric, Lady Sansa" the Queen said, "thank you for coming on such short notice." She gestured her hand for them to sit down.
"Of course, your grace." Edric sat down with Sansa and noticed that everyone was looking distraught.
Varys spoke up. "Lord Edric, we received the report on Dorne and another from King's Landing. However, given the current mood of the Dornish, we thought it best to unveil it to you first."
Edric almost chuckled. "No argument there."
"As far as we been told, the only places in Dorne that have received attack are Starfall, the Water Gardens, and Sunspear. The city managed to withstand the attacks of the sellswords, but a group of them infiltrated the city and captured the remaining daughters of Oberyn Martell."
It wasn't much to take in, but the news felt overwhelming. Sunspear persevered, but at a terrible cost. Oberyn's bastards were the last of the Martell bloodline, and now only Tyene was truly safe from Cersei. At least Edric would be able to relieve the Lord Dagos and Ladies Jynessa and Valian that their homes are safe.
"And the report from King's Landing?"
"The report confirmed the captivity of your wife, the Martell bastards, and one other, a girl from the Reach who could not be identified. Unfortunately, given the difficulty of getting messages in and out of the capitol, we've only just learned that they were transported to an unknown location weeks ago. As of now, the hostages are not in King's Landing, but that is the only knowledge we have of their whereabouts. But I can assure you that I have as many of my birds as I can spare on the lookout for any sign of them."
Though it was meant to be reassuring, Edric couldn't feel it. It was bad enough that Neela was taken to King's Landing in the state it is, but now she was nowhere to be found. "When do you plan to make this known to the other lords?"
Jon said. "We'll call for a meeting in the longhouse at midday. However we've been hearing about the tensions rising in the Dornish forces."
"Believe me, hearing about it pales to actually seeing it."
The Queen cleared her throat. "Nothing has happened that we know of, but we suspect that there will be violent measures taken against Cersei's forces here."
Sansa said. "It was hard enough trying to sway two ladies and a lord from attacking innocent soldiers because of suspicion. The only things that kept them back were the very threats they made against the Lannister soldiers. Not the most civil way to end the discussion, but it's the best we can get to intimidating for peace."
"Regardless if they are intimidated or not," Tyrion replied, "we need to take measures so that a battle within an army doesn't happen."
"Agreed," Daenerys said, "how many Dornish soldiers are there?"
Edric replied. "We number six thousand, but without my men the other lords only have around two thousand." Edric was one of the few who didn't give support to Elliara when she first allied with the Targaryens. Because of her choice and Tyrion Lannister's planning, twelve thousand Dornish were killed battling Euron Greyjoy at sea. Even after that massacre, it was surprising that there were those just as rash and foolish willing to go right into a battle. But Edric had a great loyalty from his men, and there were some of the other Dornish rulers who stay their hands at his word.
"Then have your men stand by in case something should happen. The Dothraki Horde is acting as a barrier separating the armies, so any…" Daenerys's face tensed a little before she pressed on. "Any who wish to fight will have to get through them." She cleared her throat. " That will be all for now Lord Edric. Qhono!" the Dothraki standing vigil outside the door entered. "Qafat fichat Missandei tat anna."
"Sek, Khaleesi." Qhono left the room and was shortly followed by Tyrion and Sansa. Varys stayed seated. He must have more business with the King and Queen.
Edric's thoughts turned to thinking of Neela. He started wondering why she was even taken in the first place. Was it because of his open enthusiasm and liking to the Targaryen's at the dragonpit or because he was Acting Lord Paramount of Dorne? Whatever the reason, he wished he could fix it. He never wanted her to suffer such a fate.
In the hallway, there was a sudden yelp that sounded like Sansa. When Edric entered the hallway, he saw Sansa standing still in the hallway looking directly at him, seemingly embarrassed. Lord Tyrion was looking back while he walked away, smirking the whole time.
"Are you alright, my lady?" Edric asked.
"Lord Dayne," she said "I think I found something of yours." She cocked her head back, gesturing that there was something, or rather someone, behind her. As if on cue, two small heads of black hair peeked out from behind Sansa on the opposite sides of her body, behind her dress but under her cloak. As soon as they saw their father, the children darted back behind Sansa and she seemed to flinch when they did. "And they both have a firm grip somewhere they shouldn't." she sounded a little agitated.
Edric got down to one knee. "Ashara, Gerold, please let go of the nice woman and come over here right now." The two heads poked out from behind Sansa and they slowly started to walk out. Gerold followed behind Ashara as if she were a shield for him. Edric sighed. "You two, still as mischievous here as you were in Starfall."
"Papa," Ashara said, "how come we have to stay here? We want to go home."
Edric wasn't sure how to explain that Starfall was destroyed in a way that was simple for them. "Well… we can't go back yet because some men broke it. So we have to wait until it gets fixed."
"How long will that be?" Ashara asked as she and Gerold finally got into arms reach of Edric.
To be honest, he had no idea. "Not for a while, I'm afraid." Edric's eyes drifted up to Sansa. "Ashara, Gerold, do you know who that is?" Both of them looked at Sansa and then back to him and shook their heads. "This is Sansa Stark. She lives here in this castle and is letting us stay with her. Now turn around and apologize and say something nice about her." He patted his children on their backs when they turned around to face Sansa.
"We're sorry." Ashara said.
"We sowy." Gerold said
Sansa smiled down to the two of them. "I forgive you both."
Gerold pointed up to Sansa. "Hair pretty."
Ashara on the other hand, gave a compliment most wouldn't like to hear said aloud in front of others. "Your bottom is very soft."
Edric nearly choked on his breath when she said that. "Not something like that Ashara." Edric groaned. She was still too young to understand what things should and shouldn't be said.
"But it felt like a lemon ca-" Edric pulled her back and placed a hand over her mouth to keep her from embarrassing him and Sansa more than she already was.
"I'm very sorry, Lady Sansa." He felt just as embarrassed as she was probably feeling.
Sansa was flushed red in the face and trying her best to keep her formal composure. "They're only children."
Edric nervously smiled at Sansa before turning his attention to Ashara. "Listen, there are certain things you shouldn't say just like there are certain things you shouldn't do. Remember when you got punished for running around the castle naked?"
Ashara pouted. "I got no sweets for a month."
"And what did your mother tell you when you asked why?"
"Because you should keep your body private until you're married."
"That's right, and that means you should keep other people's bodies private too."
Ashara was never one to like lectures, but then again who did? She looked up at her father's face. "Papa, when will mama get here?"
Edric had absolutely no idea how to respond to her, how to tell them that Neela was a hostage to the most vile woman alive in Westeros. "She... uh…"
"There you two are!" Ser Raymen said as he came around the corner. "How you got past the maid is beyond me. Forgive me for the… escape, my lord. I'll see that they return to their room."
"No!" Ashara shouted and held tightly onto Edric's doublet. "We don't want to go back! We want to see the dragons!"
"Dwagins!" Gerold repeated.
"Ashara, Gerold, right now is probably the worst time to see the dragons because they are very aggravated." His children looked at him confused. Of course they wouldn't know what aggravated meant. "The dragons are upset and anyone who gets close might get hurt or worse."
Both of them looked disappointed. They had only caught glimpses of the dragons from the window of their room, but seeing them up close was an entirely different experience.
Seeing them like that only made Edric think of how they would react when he would have to tell them about Neela. He had a heavy weight tugging down on his heart. Ashara and Gerold have been asking for their mother ever since they first arrived. They heard what happened to her, but they didn't understand things like hostage and captured. Telling them in a way they would understand would not only sadden them, but scare them. But before he could do that, he had to know one thing first.
"Lady Sansa," Edric said just before she was to leave, "might I have a word?"
"Of course, my lord."
Edric felt a tug on his cloak. "Can we come with you, papa?" Ashara asked.
"It's just going to be a boring talk with me and the King. Go back to your room with Ser Raymen." Edric expected her to get mad and through a fit, but instead she looked sad, heartbroken even.
"But you never come to see us until bedtime."
Seven hells, had he been so occupied that he failed to make time for his children, to be a father. Damn lorships and the things it robbed from him.
"Lord Edric," Sansa spoke, "I have an idea that might work for all of it. It will get their attention for long enough and provide someone to watch over them at the same time."
An offer like that, even not knowing what it was, was too good to say no. Edric looked at his children. Gerold looked excited, but Ashara still had a glum look. "I only have a few more things to do, and then I promise you that we can spend some time together today. Maybe I can even convince the king to let you see the dragons when they calm down."
That was more than enough to make Ashara's eyes widen and she gave Edric a tight hug around his neck. "Thank you, papa! We'll be extra good, promise!" It was good to see Ashara happy, but now Edric had to get the King and Queen to let her see the dragons. If he failed, maybe she would settle for the eggs.
Edric looked back at Sansa. "Who did you have in mind?"
Sansa smirked at him and walked back to the Lord's chambers.
"Ser Raymen," Edric said, "would you inform the major houses of Dorne that there will be a meeting this afternoon? Also..." Edric leaned in closely to whisper, "inform my lieutenants to order our men arm themselves." He didn't want to take any chances with an outbreak of fighting in the camps.
"At once, my lord." Ser Raymen left hastily the way he came and Edric made his way back to to Sansa who entered the room.
"Sansa," Jon said, "is there something else you need?"
"No," she replied, "I'm stealing someone from you." Sansa walked past them and entered the room.
Edric peered inside and watched as Sansa brought the children before the Queen. "Pardon the intrusion, your grace." Sansa said.
"Who are these two?" Daenerys asked.
"Your grace, this is Ashara and Gerold of House Dayne." The children had their eyes fixed on Daenerys as Sansa knelt down to them. "This is Queen Daenerys Targaryen." As soon as Ashara heard who Daenerys was, she did her best attempt at a curtsey. "Do either of you know what a direwolf is?"
They both shook their heads and Sansa pointed over to Ghost who they didn't see yet. Ashara gasped while Gerold got frightened and hid behind Sansa's cloak.
"Can we pet him?" Ashara boldly asked.
"You can, he's very tame."
Ashara slowly walked up to Ghost who lifted his head off the floor and looked right at her. She reached her hand out and placed it on his head and started to lightly stroke his mane. "He's so fluffy!" She squealed out excitedly.
"Ghost, with me." Sansa said. She came out of the room followed by Ghost and Ashara was trailing behind the large white direwolf in awe while Gerold clinged to Sansa, still afraid of him.
Jon scoffed as they passed him. "Traitor." He muttered as Ghost padded by.
Edric thought as he followed after them and caught up with Sansa. He followed her outside to the courtyard and it was far less busy than when everyone was preparing to fight the dead and a much less crowded one.
Sansa brought the children to an open area unpolluted by people. "You two have this whole area to play in with Ghost. Just make you don't get too rough with him." Gerold clung tighter to her dress. She knelt down and smiled at him. "It's alright, he won't hurt you."
"Scary." Gerold replied.
"He does look scary, doesn't he?" Neither of them noticed when Ghost approached them. Gerold gasped and hid his face in Sansa's cloak. "If you are kind to him then he'll be kind to you." Gerold peeked out and looked at the big red eyes staring at him. "He's very gentle and won't bark at you, I promise." Gerold grabbed onto Sansa's hand while slowly reaching his own hand out to Ghost. Before he could touch him, Ghost licked Gerold's fingers and and Gerold started to giggle.
"He tickles!"
Sansa smiled as Gerold let go of her hand and started to pet Ghost.
"Come on Gerold!" Ashara called. "Let's build a snow castle!" Gerold rushed off with Ghost to Ashara.
Sansa stood up and watched with Edric as they all ran off together. She had a kind heart, which made Edric glad to have a friend like her. "You'll make a good mother one day." He told her.
Sansa shook her head. "After three betrothals and two marriages, all of them unwanted, I've given up on that."
He could not think how to proceed after that.
It was Sansa who saved him the embarrassing silence. "How are you faring?"
"I can't answer that yet. I wish I had a few years more experience in such a position. My wife is out there somewhere, a prisoner and at the mercy of gods know who and my children haven't a clue about her." Edric thought saying it aloud would relieve the weight he felt, but it didn't. "I have no idea what I'm supposed to do." He felt like he had a thousand thoughts rushing through his mind and he couldn't find the one he needed.
"So find what you can do instead. Knowing that might give you the answer you seek."
"There's a great many things I could do. I could march my army right now, I could offer to betray you all." He was exaggerating obviously and she knew that. "It's the thing I need to do that escapes me. And right now I'm worried that any move I make by purpose or accident will be the wrong one." Edric leaned onto the balcony railing and looked down at his children playing in the snow with Ghost. They were happy, very happy, and Edric didn't want them to lose that, he didn't want to lose them. But right now he was losing sight on how to protect them when the time comes.
"When I saw Cersei at the Dragonpit, I knew just from looking that she was more dangerous than I've ever known. And without her father or Lord Jaime to hold her back, there's no telling what she might do." That just made things worse. A person with such power and unpredictability was as dangerous as the Mad King. "But given how's she's acted recently, I think I notice a pattern."
"A pattern?" Edric asked and he stood back up and looked at her.
"Everytime we make a move, every time she makes one, they all end with her being deceitful. The Queen took Casterly Rock before uniting with us, but Cersei planned on it and used that chance to destroy her remaining fleet. Cersei pledge the Westeros armies she commanded to us and kept the Golden Company in King's Landing, but hired even more sellswords to attack the lands emptied of soldiers. She obviously lies and can't be trusted, it's just her actions that make her unpredictable. As far as we know, she has hostages from Dorne and the Reach, but what if they are more than that?"
"I'm not sure that I follow. What else could they be than hostages? All of them are of value to someone great enough to go to war over."
"So start at the beginning. Why do you think your wife was taken rather than killed?"
"She is the Lady of House Dayne. There could be a number of reasons."
"Such as?"
"Neela could be a hostage so that Dorne won't fight but… I was going to declare Dorne neutral in the fight against her at first." If that were the case, it would only raise more questions. "There's too many things it could be."
"Then what's the worst reason?"
"The worst?"
"I learned that sometimes we should try asking of the worst possible reason someone would do something and see how reasonable it is. So what is the worst possible reason your wife was taken?"
At first Edric thought the worst reason could be execution, but it didn't make sense to do that. To take her as hostage might be to keep him from fighting. "If she's a hostage, she could be threatened with death if I fight Cersei." No, after hearing what Sansa described about Cersei's unpredictability, there had to be more than that. "Or she could threaten her with death unless I turn against you."
"If Cersei were to wrap her control over some of the leaders here, it would be the Red Wedding all over again."
Sansa was right. If the Westerland Lords kept their loyalty to Cersei rather than Lord Jaime, then that would be fifteen thousand enemy soldiers at the doorstep to everyone else. And there was still the matter of the girl from the Reach. Whoever she was could factor a great number of soldiers added. Melissa Tarly had eighteen thousand, but the rest of the lords combined had twelve thousand. Threaten the right one and that would still be a great deal.
However, even if an attack within the armies happened, it wouldn't be one that they could win. But it would weaken them enough to rival all of the sellswords at Cersei's command, giving her the advantage she needs to win the war to come.
A bell began to ring and caught Edric and Sansa's attention. It was coming from the gates. "Wagon approaching!" the gatekeeper called. After a moment he shouted again. "Find the King and open the gates!"
"What do you think is going on?" Edric asked.
"I'm not sure." Sansa replied.
Edric hurried from the balcony and passed his children. "Ashara, Gerold, stay with Lady Sansa." He didn't wait for confirmation, but his tone has firm enough that he didn't need to. On his way, Edric accidentally walked into a man carrying some kegs.
"Ah! Watch where you're going!" The man looked absolutely filthy. If he wore salt stained clothes, he would've been thought to be Ironborn. He spilled some of the contents of the kegs on to his gloves and quickly wiped them clean, but he left bright green stains on his breeches.
"Apologies." Edric turned his attention back to the gates as a crowd of curious people began to form around to see what was happening.
The gates opened and a crying man driving a wagon entered. When his horse was stopped by one of the guards, he panicked. "Please! Don't hurt me! I'm just a messenger!" Getting off his cart, he practically fell from it and got to his knees. "They said they'd kill my family if I didn't bring them here! I'm sorry!"
"Calm down!" one of the guards next to him said. "Bring what here?"
"The cargo… they… oh seven hells they killed the children right in front of me!" One of the other guards went to see what the cargo was as a large crowd began to form around the area. The guard opened the back of the wagon and gasped and covered his mouth in disgust.
The guard with the driver looked at the one at the wagon. "What is it?" he called.
"Bodies, wrapped up in wool."
The guard looked down at the driver. "What's the meaning of this?"
The driver, eyes and face red from sorrow barely got his words through. "The b-bodies are one part, the Queen's words are the other."
By now the King found his was to the front. "What's going on here?"
The guard at the back of the cart replied while he and one other began to bring the bodies out of the wagon. "He said he's a messenger. The dead are one part, Cersei's words the other." He and the other guard laid the first body down gently on the snow covered ground and went to get another. The body itself was the size of a child, and the driver did say children, so how many more were to follow?
The King approached the driver and stood over him. "What is Cersei's message?"
The driver looked up, full of fear. "T-to the dragonwhore and the bastard of Winterfell, I congratulate you on your victory against the dead. Now that the Country is saved, it is up to you to decide whether you shall have peace, or destroy what remains. Surrender the armies you stole from me, surrender my treacherous brothers, and you may have the savage land of the North. Do not give me what I demand and more of what I give shall be delivered. Those are my terms. If you dare think to keep what you took from me, a Lannister always their debts."
By then the last of the bodies had been emptied from the wagon and laid next to the rest. There were six total. The King approached one of the larger sized ones and pulled away the wool that covered the head to reveal a piece of decorated cloth resting over the victims face. He pulled it off and beheld a young girl no older than seventeen, her face blank and throat slit. The King grimaced when he saw the girl like that, but then looked at the cloth with concern. He muttered a word, quiet but just loud enough that it could be made out. "Tarly." He looked over to one of the other bodies, one of the small one and pulled the wool covering off and saw another piece of cloth over the victims face. "Martell."
When Edric heard Martell, he took a closer look at the cloth on another just revealed and saw that it too had the sigil of House Martell. Could the cloths over the faces be some indication of their identities? Edric had no time to think about it when every sense in his body froze after he heard the King say another name.
"Dayne."
Through the corner of his eye, Edric could see that the last body unloaded was reveal, but a purple cloth covered the face. He could also see locks of auburn hair, her hair. The King pulled the cloth away and against every part of his all, Edric saw Neela lying there with her throat slit like the others. He couldn't hear himself as he ran over to her body, but he could feel the pain of a scream in his heart leaving his mouth. His soul became completely torn apart as he fell to his knees at Neela's body.
This wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to die. No matter how much Edric screamed inside of himself that this wasn't true, but a trick, the body he cradled in his arms said differently.
